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The HOME of 
THE TRAVELERS 

























- 














































































































































































































































































































































































































































BAS-RELIEF ST AT V E OF THE LATE 

JAMES (So BATTERS GM 

FOVNDRH OK 

THE TRAVELERS 

ALBIN I’OLAStK SCVLPTOR 











































Tbe HOME 

OF 

THE TRAVELERS 



THE TRAVELERS 
INSURANCE COMPANY 

THE TRAVELERS 
INDEMNITY COMPANY 

> ® 

* » •> 

HARTFORD • CONNECTICUT 
























Copyright, 1921, by 

The Travelers Insurance Company 
Hartford, Connetticut 


I 



Rf.dfield-Kendrick-Odell Co., Inc. 
JA (jw Tor ^ 


©aA8l7662 

JUL-7 71 


I 



>12.1 



EARLY HOMES 

HE TRAVELERS INSURANCE COMPANY, chartered by 
the State of Conne&icut in 1863 as an accident insurance 
company for the purpose of demonstrating the value of cer¬ 
tain plans for accident insurance conceived by James G. 
Batterson, of Hartford, a commanding figure in the busi¬ 
ness and intelle<Tual life of his city and state, found its first home in two rooms 
on the second floor of a small building at the corner of Main and Kinsley streets. 
Here was inaugurated in the spring of 1864 the business of accident insur¬ 
ance in the United States, the cornerstone of a great company then being laid 
amid the vicissitudes of the Civil War and in the face of skepticism and doubt. 

It was natural that the birthplace of accident insurance in America should 
be the City of Hartford. Since 1810 Hartford men had been trained in the 
principles of insurance. They had insisted from the beginning that the founda¬ 
tion of the business was unvarying integrity and the full discharge of not only 



4 7 










the letter but the spirit of their engagements no matter what the cost. The 
Travelers was built upon that tradition, and, in common with other Hartford 
companies, has held to it faithfully. 

The Company commenced business with Mr. Batterson as President, 
Rodney Dennis as Secretary, and John E. Morris as its only clerk. Notwith¬ 
standing the general opinion that the project, backed by a capital of $400,000, 
was visionary and hazardous, the Company’s income in 1865 was $51 6,62 3, 
and its assets at the end of that year $616,869. 

This growth made larger quarters necessary, and the Company moved to 
its second home, the ground floor and basement of a four-story building on 
the corner of Asylum Street and Union Place. The second office consisted of 
three rooms; a general offlce in front, behind which was a room occupied by 
Secretary Dennis, with a directors’ room in the rear. The Company’s agents, 
when in the offlce, used the directors’ room. The furniture in the early offices 
was plain and cheap, some of it having been purchased in second-hand stores. 
On the front of the offlce over the windows was a sign fifty feet long and three 
feet wide, with the name of the Company in large letters, the most conspicu¬ 
ous sign in the city. At that time the chief argument in favor of accident insur¬ 
ance was the danger of travel on the railroads. It may have been design or it 
may have been chance, but the location of the offlce of The Travelers of that 
day, next the railroad, seems logical and appropriate. It was while the Com¬ 
pany was here that a series of disastrous railroad accidents forced recognition 
of the need and value of the new form of protection, and the progress of the 
Company became substantial. 

In 1872 the income was $1,187,77 8,and the asse ts reached $2,23 1,708. 
In the fall of this year the Ellsworth house on ProspeCt Street was purchased, 
and The Travelers moved to its third home—where it remained for thirty-five 





A GREY SPIRIT PRESIDING OVER THE VISTA BETWEEN THE POST OFFICE AND THE OLD STATEHOUSE- 

VIEWED FROM THE SITE OF THE ANCIENT MEETING HOUSE SQUARE 






























Prospect Street had long been one of the prominent streets of the City. 
It was laid out in 17 8 5, just west of and paralleling a lane leading from Meeting 
House Square to the parsonage of the Rev. Thomas Hooker, one of the founders 
of the Colony of Connecticut. When the street was laid out, the Ellsworth 
house site was bought by Oliver Wolcott, Jr., statesman, financier, and manu¬ 
facturer, Secretary of the Treasury under Washington and Adams, and after¬ 
ward Governor of Connecticut. In 1 7 9 2 it was sold to Chauncey Goodrich, and 
in 1822 to Henry L. Ellsworth, an architect and a Mayor of Hartford. Mr. 
Ellsworth ereCted for himself the mansion so long occupied by The Travelers. 
He lived in it until 1839, after which it was successively owned by Prof. 
Charles Davies, of the United States Military Academy, Roswell C. Smith, 
xMfred Smith, long President of the Connecticut River Banking Company, and 
the Hon. Isaac Toucey, Governor of Connecticut and United States Senator. 

During the time that it occupied the Ellsworth house the Company 
constantly and greatly gained in size, strength, and reputation. The leading 
accident company in America, it became also a faCtor in the life insurance busi¬ 
ness, which it had inaugurated in 1866 on the guaranteed low-cost plan. In 
1889 the writing of liability insurance was undertaken, Mr. Batterson holding 
firmly to his belief that liability insurance was a logical extension of the theory 
of accident insurance. Thus The Travelers, writing accident, life, and liability 
insurance, became one of Hartford’s prominent insurance companies. 

To Travelers men of that day the Ellsworth house seemed typical of the 
Company. The house grew as the Company grew, throwing out now a wing 
and again an ell, then another story, but preserving all the time the appear¬ 
ance of a family home, while the Company welcomed new members to its 
force, sent others to distant fields, called them home once more to family coun¬ 
cils or to head new departments. The mansion looked hospitable, substantial, 
and serene. 


3 l 10 je 



/i'H'.ri--' "■'n't tci‘. 


',L 



THE MAIN STAIRCASE LEADING TO THE ASSEMBLY HALL 


The Ellsworth house was enlarged live times, but it became evident that 
the limit of expansion had been reached, and a much larger and more mod¬ 
ern building was imperative. In 1904 property was acquired at the corner 
of Main and Grove streets, and on June 29, 1906, the cornerstone of the 
permanent home of The Travelers was laid. At this time the Company’s origi¬ 
nal staff of three had increased to more than 400, its income to $ 1 3,895,5 1 o, 
and its assets to $48,960,079. 


4 11 


















RISING OVER THE HEART OF THE TOWN, THE TOWER LOOKS DOWN ON MAIN STREET, THE OLD BULFINCH 


STATEHOUSE, AND THE CENTER OF HARTFORD S TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM 




















ANNALS OF A BUILDING SITE 


|| >o hundred and eighty-three years ago Sunckquasson, Indian 
Sachem, deeded the land where Hartford now stands to Samuel 
Stone, William Goodwin, and others. The main highway of the 

Hartford settlement ran where Main Street now lies, in a straight line from the 

» 

Palisado or fort, near the South Green, to the fort at Sentinel Hill, a rise of 
ground at the corner of Main and Morgan streets. These forts were armed 
with two small cannons, and the sentinels had a clear view from one end of 
the town to the other. 

Midway between the two forts and on the east side of the highway lay 
a piece of land destined a little later to become one of the most historic spots 
in New England. Upon it the Home Office of The Travelers now stands. 

Under the form of government adopted by the settlers, who were known 
as “proprietors,” three distributions were made of the propertv acquired under 
the Indian deed. In 1639 the General Court passed an order providing for a 
“ledger booke” and a “towne clerke, who shall record every man’s house and 
land already graunted and measured out to him, with the bounds and quan- 
tity of the same.” This book, known as the “Book of Distribution,” shows 
among the early proprietors John Steele and Clement Chapling. Upon the 
northwestern corner of the land of John Steele stands the Travelers tower 
and south wing, and upon the southwestern corner of the land of Clement 
Chapling stands the north wing. 

In 1639 or 1640 John Steele sold his land and dwelling to John 
Tavlcott, who immediately sold it to John Moris. In 1651 John Moris sold 
to Jeremy Addams. 


3l 1 3 It 






/, 


THE ASSEMBLY HALL WITH ITS MEMORIALS OF JAMES G. BATTERSON, FOUNDER, 
AND SYLVESTER C. DUNHAM, SECOND PRESIDENT 


The General Court had ordered that inns be established. Hartford having 
a population of 1,200, and Jeremy having been adjudged by two magistrates 
a fit person to be an innkeeper, he established an inn shortly after he had 
purchased the property. In this inn or tavern the General Court sat, ruling the 
community with a strong hand. It required Jeremy to provide “a chamber for 
the meeting of the court, furnished with chairs and tables, a large leather chair 
and carpet, with accommodation for forty or fifty people.” 


4 14 I&: 





















For nearly fifty years the whole government of the Colony was con¬ 
ducted in this tavern, including every aCt of legislation and of administration, 
all orders for the regulation ol public and private life, all diplomatic corre¬ 
spondence with England and with the other Colonies, treaties with the Indians, 
trials of witches, the controversies with Governor Andros, all questions of war, 
trade, and commerce. Here in rotation sat the commissioners of confederated 
New England. Here Winthrop, relating how he persuaded the King to grant 
the charter, spread it before their eves. Here the magistrates read the message 
announcing that fiery outbreak of King Philip and the Indian Tribes which 
shook New England to its foundations. 

Jeremy had mortgaged his tavern to the Colony of Connecticut and in 
1682, being unable to pay, he passed it over to the Colony. The General 
Court appointed a committee to make sale of the tavern and lot, and in due 
time the Treasurer conveyed the property, comprising three acres, to a new 
owner, Zachary Sanford, grandson of Jeremy Addams. 

So Zachary Sanford became landlord, and the General Court continued 
to sit in the Court Chamber. Through the early months of the new land¬ 
lord’s occupancy there were mysterious goings and comings, an atmosphere 
of anxiety, many meetings of the Court, and finally on October 3 1, 1687, 
there broke upon the ears of the Court, there in session, the clatter of many 
hoofs, the sound of horsemen dismounting, the opening of doors—it was 
Governor Andros come in person with a trumpeter and twenty red-coated 
troopers to take over the great charter and assume the government. 

Then occurred that thing which made this spot historic. When the charter 
was laid before Governor Andros bv the indignant and protesting members of 
the Court, the candles were suddenly extinguished, and the charter was seized 
by Captain Wadsworth, who escaped to hide it in a cavity in a great tree, a 
thousand years old, to be known ever after as the Charter Oak. 


4 1 5 



i 

a 

■Sk 



LOOKED AT FROM THE NORTH, A GREY MOUNTAIN PILING UP ITS FASTNESSES ABOVE THE FOOTHILLS 


OF CENTRAL ROW 












Zachary Sanford died, and the tavern passed to his daughter Sarah and 
her husband, Jonathan Bunce. Jonathan Bunce died, and during the years 
1728-1731 the estate was distributed, and Samuel Flagg, by marriage with 
Sarah Bunce and by purchase from the other heirs, came into possession of the 
tavern. Immediatelv the old inn was torn down, and Flagg built the famous 
Black Horse Tavern near to the present street line. 

For many years the Black Horse Tavern was the most widely known of 
all the inns in the Colony. Officers of the troops passing on their way to the 
French and Indian Wars enjoyed its hospitality. Here was celebrated the vic¬ 
tory of Wolfe on the Plains of Abraham, and the commandant of Ticonderoga 
and captured British officers tasted of its good cheer. 

Hannah Flagg having married Captain John Chenevard,the property was 
deeded to him in 1788. On his death it came into possession of his daughters, 
Margaret and Hepzibah. In 1859 the property was sold by Margaret Chene- 
vard to the Universalist Society, from which it was purchased in 1 905 by The 
Travelers Insurance Company, destined in its turn to occupy the historic site 
after a unique history of its own. 


3 ] 17 Je 




f'VWfA "?>; 






A SHEER CLIFF OF WHITE, AMID THE ELMS WHICH ONCE SHADED THE COLONIAL RESIDENCES 


OF PROSPECT STREET 









THE BUILDING 


■^HE Travelers Building, architecturally a unit, has been built in three 
sections. First the north wing, which was occupied in 1907, at which 
time the office force numbered 482; then the balance of the Main 
Street front and a south wing 196 feet deep, occupied in 191 3, at which time 
the personnel numbered 955; and third, in 1919, the extension of the south 
wing to Prospect Street, together with the tower rising over it; making the 
floor area of the whole building 332,000 square feet. The present Home Office 
staff numbers more than 4,200. The building, designed in a free renaissance 
style, combines consistent simplicity of scheme with dignity and coherence of 
expression, in massive proportion and boldness of detail. 

The architect was Donn Barber, of New t ork, and the builders were Marc 
Eidlitz & Son, Inc. The building is of composite construction, consisting of a 
framework of steel bearing an anchored covering of stone and brick. The ex¬ 
terior walls are pink Westerly granite, and the walls on the court light-colored 
brick. It is interesting to note that the quarries in Westerly, Rhode Island, from 
which the granite was procured were first developed by James G. Batterson, 
the founder of the Company. 

The main building is nine stories high, extending 133 feet from the side¬ 
walk to the main cornice. Its ground measurements are 128 by 326 feet. 

Architecturally speaking, the first three floors of the building constitute 
a base for the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth stories, which unite to 
form one feature. The ninth story is treated as a frieze carrying the imposing 
copper cornice, above which is the tenth half-story, set back somewhat and 
but slightly visible from the street. 


4 19 

























FROM THE EAST BANK. OF THE CONNECTICUT RIVER 

























The tower, which dominates the architecture of the city, a beautiful and 
monumental structure, rises harmoniously above the south wing near its center 
to a height of 34 stories, the top of the lantern being 527 feet above the side¬ 
walk, a height exceeded by but few buildings in the world. 

The tower up to the fifteenth floor is of the same architecture as the main 
building. The sixteenth story is treated as a horizontal band, while in the seven¬ 
teenth and eighteenth stories an arcade motif is developed. Above the twen¬ 
tieth floor the tower is set back on its long dimension, and the twentieth, 
twenty-first, and twentv-second stories serve as a base for the Ionic colonnade 
of the twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth. 

Above the colonnade the tower recedes again on its long dimension to 
form a square, finished symmetrically on all sides. At the twenty-seventh floor a 
loggia 359 feet above the street is developed, the four corners of the roof being 
supported by piers and free Doric columns. The balcony on each side is formed 
by a deep Palladian arch treatment and a balustrade. The roof of the loggia 
is pyramidal, sloping to a second look-out just below the cupola. The entire 
tower to this point is of stone, but the cupola surmounting it is of metal. The 
lower portion of the cupola is utilized as an outlet for the smokestack. The 
upper portion is built to form the crowning feature, and supports a finial with 
a cluster of metal balls varying from 4 to 20 inches in diameter. The cupola 
or lantern, 8 1 feet high, is of copper covered with gold leaf. 

Under the cupola, at the thirty-fourth story level, there is a beacon con¬ 
sisting of thirty-six 400-watt projectors and eight others of 200-watt power, 
throwing a solid band of white light, visible for many miles. 

Looked at from the east or west the tower appears quite slender, while 
from the north or south it shows considerable breadth—a great white cliff 
studded with windows, surmounted by a series of classic building units of 
diminishing size, rising successively in agreeable composition. 


sj 22 fe 




IN THE AFTERNOON SUN OF BUSHNELL PARK 












The narrower face of the tower assumes approximately the proportions 
of a Corinthian column; that is, the ratio of its width to its height is about one 
to ten and a half. The corresponding ratio is one to eleven in the Washington 
monument; and in the famous Campanile of St. Mark’s in Venice it is about 
one to nine. The perfection of The Travelers Tower, built for utility as well 
as for beauty, is thus emphasized. The tower is filled with offices up to and 
including the twenty-fourth floor. 




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THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT 


3] 24 g: 

















; '.+#?!■ 


^>'/ 7 - 


THE DIRECTORS' ROOM 


The exterior of the building, while imposing and inspiring, affords little 
clue to the interior of this business home of more than 4,2 00 people or the mag¬ 
nitude of the operations carried on therein. Entering the building one stands in 
the staircase hall, two stories high and flooded with artificial sunlight. In the 
center a marble staircase leads to the Assembly Hall, a beautiful room of classic 
proportions, which provides a fit setting for the memorials to the Company’s 
former presidents. Its bronze doorway is one of the features of the building. 

4 2 5 















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THE ROOFS OF MAIN STREET 
















THE MUNICIPAL BUILDING AND THE MORGAN MEMORIAL LEAD THE EYE TO THE IMPRESSIVE BEAUTY OF THE TOWER 


FROM THE SOUTH 























i'Vt*l/H fyr/i 5-1" + 


AN ACTIVE RECORD FILE OF A DEPARTMENT 


The staircase hall is treated in Hauteville marble up to the second story 
level, above which the walls are finished in Caen stone. The Assembly Hall, 
finished with a low wainscoting, is in Hauteville marble, the walls, panels, 
columns, and cornices of Caen stone plaster. This room, situated in the court 
between the north and south wings, is lighted from the east and from above. 
It is used on occasion for large meetings and will seat 400. 

To the right and left of the staircase are the corridors, wainscoted in 
marble, one extending the whole length of the south wing. The building is 
equipped with 1 7 elevators. In 1 3 years of operation, with all the employees 

4 28 [s 





ascending or descending on the elevators four times each working day—at 
morning, noon, and night—plus millions of other trips, there has been but 
one slight injury. 

The Travelers Building conforms with the most advanced practice in office 





THE FINAL RECORD FILE OF THE COMPANY 


4 29 js 


















housing. Its ventilating system takes in air on the roof, filters and purifies it, and 
delivers it throughout the building by means of duCts, the combined length of 
which equals twenty-two miles. The blower system is capable of furnishing 
eleven million cubic feet of fresh air per hour. In cold weather the air is passed 
over steam coils and heated to the proper temperature. A centrifugal exhauster 
removes the vitiated air. Although the building is a remarkably light one, with 
unusual window space, cream walls, and light oak finish, ample artificial light 
is provided by means of an especially effective system. 

The drinking water is cooled and purified. EleCtric dumbwaiters carry 
mail and papers throughout the building. All windows have bronze-covered 
frames and sashes and nearly all are glazed with wire glass. It is believed that 
the building is fireproof, although it has its own fire equipment in all parts, 
including the whole of the tower. 

In general, the building is arranged by departments. The eighth floor is 
commonlv called the executive floor, as here are the offices of the President, 
Secretary, Treasurer, and other executives, and the Directors’ room. I his 
beautiful room, panelled in English oak, has portraits of the former presidents. 

The Accident Department is on the fifth floor, the Life Department on the 
fourth, the Compensation and Liability Department on the seventh. These 
departments each transact more business than most single-line companies. The 
tower is largelv occupied by The Travelers Indemnity Company and for actu¬ 
arial purposes, the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first floors being filled 
with tabulating machines. 

Space forbids an enumeration of the departments and divisions in the build¬ 
ing, but among the more unusual features may be mentioned the hospital and 
the Travelers clubs, which are important faCtors in connection with the Home 
Office personnel. The Travelers Girls’ Club comprises 2,000 members and has 
quarters on the tenth floor in the tower, the level of the main building roof. 

4 30 Is 




A CENTRALIZED STENOGRAPHIC FORCE, WITH NEARLY TWO HUNDRED YOUNG WOMEN UNDER ONE 


DIRECTION, IS A FEATURE OF THE TRAVELERS ORGANIZATION 































ONE OF THE GREAT WORKROOMS, MORE THAN THREE HUNDRED FEET IN LENGTH. THERE ARE MANY LIKE THIS, WITH 
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE FAITHFULLY AND COMPETENTLY PERFORMING THE COMPANY’S BUSINESS 






























Here is a spacious lounge, a dance floor, a large luncheon room, and a kitchen. 
The rooms open upon a roof garden equipped with rustic furniture and an 
awning roof. The men’s club numbers over 1,400. Its quarters are on the first 
floor in the Prospedt Street end of the south wing. A finely furnished library, 
a billiard room, card room, and locker room are provided. 

The hospital is on the fourth floor. Attached is a staff of five graduate 
nurses, who attend those suddenly ill and assist the medical staff in examina¬ 
tions of new employees. The nurse staff looks over the entire building as to 
conditions of health and sanitation twice each day. 

The Travelers Building is one of the largest buildings in the world devoted 
to one business. It is used entirelv by The Travelers, excepting the two Main 
Street corners on the first floor, which are occupied by banks. 


4 33 






c 






SEEN IN ITS SLENDER ASPECT, OVER A BIT OF OLD HARTFORD 































THE TRAVELERS 


nr^ HE Trave ers’ strength lies in its conception of the possibilities in a 
multiple-line company, in the service it renders, in its extraordinarily 
efficient agents and field representatives, and in its development 
of the Branch Office system. The Travelers Insurance Company and its sub¬ 
sidiary, The Travelers Indemnity Company, which was organized in 1906 to 
write certain lines not permitted by The Travelers Insurance Company’s charter, 
constitute—THE TRAVELERS. The lines written are (in the order of their 
inception) accident insurance, life insurance, liability insurance, health insurance, 
automobile insurance (personal injury, property damage, and collision), steam 
boiler insurance, workmen’s compensation insurance, group insurance (life, 
accident, and sickness), burglary insurance, plate glass insurance, aircraft insur¬ 
ance, and engine insurance. 

The Travelers as a multiple-line company is unique in that it is the leader 
in most of the lines that it writes. Throughout its history it has been the one 
great accident company of America; it has long been the leader by a wide 
margin in liability and workmen’s compensation insurance. It leads in guar¬ 
anteed low-cost life insurance, in automobile insurance, in group insurance, in 
burglary insurance, and in aircraft insurance. 

The Travelers maintains over sixty Branch Offices in the United States and 
Canada. In connection with these Branch Offices it employs on salary about 
five thousand people. In some Branch Offices the number employed to handle 
the affairs of the district is larger than the number of employees in the home 
office of many companies. An idea of this is gained from two of the larger 
offices. In New York the employees number nearly fifteen hundred, while the 

4 35 £ 






THE COMPANY MAINTAINS A TRAINING SCHOOL, WHERE NEW MEN LEARN THE BUSINESS IN ORDER TO CARRY 

THEIR KNOWLEDGE INTO THE FIELD. THESE MEN ARE THE SECOND-LIEUTENANTS OF THE TRAVELERS ARMY- 

THE SELECTED MEN ON WHOM THE SUCCESS OF THE COMPANY OUTSIDE THE HOME OFFICE IS TO DEPEND. 

FOUR HUNDRED WERE TRAINED IN THE SCHOOL IN I92O 
















floor area of the Branch Office in the Insurance Exchange Building in Chicago 
is 26,500 square feet. 

The first President of The Travelers was James Goodwin Batterson, its 
founder. Mr. Batterson was a man of powerful personality and varied talents. 
He laid the foundations of The Travelers and he laid them well. He was Presi¬ 
dent for thirty-eight years, beginning in 1863, after his return from England 
with the railroad accident ticket, which had suggested to him the idea of an 
accident company in America. Mr. Batterson was really a builder of buildings 
but his imagination did not stop there. His great versatility and energy found 
many outlets, among them the making of a great insurance company. His 
tremendous vitality and determination gave the Company its first impetus 
and saw it through its early struggles and reverses. 

Sylvester Clark Dunham,succeeding Mr. Batterson on October 14,1901, 
had been Counsel of the Company and Vice-President. A man of calm judg¬ 
ment and sympathetically disposed, he was possessed at the same time of a 
strong sense of justice and a tenacity for the right. Especially he seemed to have 
a clear vision of the Company’s future. He selected his associates ably and 
inspired them with his own loyalty and enthusiasm. 

Mr. Dunham guided the destinies of the Company during that middle 
period, increased the vigor of its development, and paved the way for still 
greater growth—which unfortunately he was prevented from witnessing. He 
died on October 15, 1915. 

Louis F. Butler succeeded Mr. Dunham and is now President. All his busi¬ 
ness life has been devoted to The Travelers. Beginning in the Ticket Depart¬ 
ment, he rose to be Assistant Actuary and Actuary of the Casualty Departments, 
Assistant Secretary of the Company, Secretary, and Vice-President. 

On January 1, 1921, The Travelers Insurance Company had assets of 
$195,034,169, reserves and other liabilities of $178,642,369, and capital 


4 37 


of $7,500,000, with surplus or $8,891,800. Its income in 1920 was 
$86,02 3,667. The Travelers Indemnity Company had assets of $8,399,161, 
reserves and other liabilities of $6,079,08 1, capital of $ 1,500,000, and surplus 
of $820,080. Its total income was $9,165,060. 

To the beginning of the vear 1921 payments to policyholders amounted 
to a total of $272,614,998, and expenditures for prevention of accidents 
through inspection to $7,882,484. 
































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